walking daily in the shadow of the cross

Yesterday my wife was reading a book that mentioned the Bible saying “Do not fear” 365 times… once for every day of the week. As kindly as I could, I responded, “That’s not true. I read a blog post about that and it said it’s not true.” She kindly did not smack me for being a know-it-all. But she did respond by saying, “So you think this writer didn’t research it at all before writing it in her book?”

This morning I was curious and re-read the blog post (A “Do Not Be Afraid” For Every Day of the Year?) I remembered debunking this “myth” and then did some homework myself (even though I should’ve been finishing my sermon for Sunday). I pulled up Accordance Bible Software (which I very highly recommend, and is available for both Mac and PC) and did a basic search in English with “not <and> fear” and got 327 hits, then did another with “no <and> fear” and got another 65 hits. Not all of these quite fit the criteria to support the “365 fear nots” since some are like Lev. 25:36 (“Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you.”) have a different root word and meaning for “fear.”

To be honest, I was looking to debunk this “one fear not for each day” statement but after doing some research and changing up the different ways the “fear not” statements could be said, I think it could actually be mostly true. I doubt the Bible says “Do not be afraid” exactly 365 times, but the number of times the Bible makes some variation of that statement does seem to be in the 300’s. Thankfully, we don’t need one “Fear not” for each day in order to live with confidence and courage.

Jesus has received all authority in heaven and on earth, and he has promised to be with us always, even to the very end of time (Matthew 28:18-20). That is reason enough for us to live without fear.

2 thoughts on “365 Fear Not’s in the Bible?”

I love how much God asks us not to fear. Fear is so crippling to our walk and is so not useful. I don’t know if it’s in there 365 times, but I know I need to squash it 365 days a year. Thanks for highlighting “Do not Fear” in your post.